Illinois, like other states, has also funded land preservation efforts through the state’s capital budget. The most recent example was the Open Lands Trust, which invested $200 million in open space acquisition from 1999 to 2003. Wisconsin, our neighbor to the north, which has four times as many conservation and recreation acres as Illinois (both per capita and in acres), and they continue to spend nearly four times as much as we do (per capita) on open space programs and allocates bond funding for this purpose annually. In 1999, when Wisconsin's ten year capital land acquisition program expired, the legislature renewed it for another 10 years through 2010. In contrast, after Illinois approved capital funding for the Open Lands Trust in 1999, it ran out in 2003, and our state has never renewed it.

Last year, Environment Illinois helped pass a resolution in which Illinois legislators urged Governor Blagojevich to include in the next capital budget funding for the Illinois Special Places Acquisition, Conservation, and Enhancement Program (iSPACE), which would fund state acquisition and conservation of open spaces. The resolution passed both the House and Senate unanimously and serves as a powerful statement of the legislature’s intent to use a fraction of any capital budget to protect Illinois open spaces for future generations.